Luz liked her job.

She worked at a coffee shop on a quiet street, called "Owl House Coffee" . The coffee shop was notorious in the area for selling interesting drinks, such as their famous "lava juice", a hot beverage with excessive spice added.

The manager, Eda Clawthorne, was a family friend, and had offered Luz the job as a barista two years prior. The other baristas- Willow and Gus- were her best friends and roommates, and Eda's five year old son also spent a lot of time in the coffee shop.

It was on a fairly cold morning in October when she first saw her.

»»»

Amity, Boscha and Skara had been roommates for a year. In their high school days, the three had been queen bees, running the school with an iron fist.

Amity had never enjoyed being spiteful towards her peers. In her senior year, she hadn't even joined in with her friend's teasing, even going as far as to apologise to a previous victim of her malice, Willow Park.

The two weren't exactly friends, but they were on good terms and that was enough.

Skara and Boscha eventually grew out of their mean streaks, after high school. Now that they were in college, the two mainly focused on looking better than as many other students as possible during their classes. Amity cared less, but time had made the three relatively close.

What had once been a rather toxic trio, was now a healthy group of roommates, and things were much better than they were in high school.

Another change was that Boscha had apparently started dating Willow, a development that Skara and Amity had not seen coming. However that was recent, Boscha had yet to introduce Willow to them officially as her girlfriend.

Things for the trio were going great, especially as having moved out of her parents' house, Amity had much more freedom than she did before. She was so much happier than the days where she has been forced to dye her hair to fit in with her older siblings.

Now her brown roots grew out, and no one did anything to stop them. She was free.

Then October came along.

Amity has convinced Skara and Boscha that they needed to go out for coffee together, maybe as a roommate bonding trip. Of course they agreed, and the three ended up going to a well known coffee shop in the area: Owl House Coffee. Since Boscha's girlfriend and her friends had recently started working there, Boscha had been recommended a drink from the place and invited her friends along too.

Skara and Boscha finished their class at the same time. They headed up to the coffee shop first, got themselves a table, bought their own coffees, and sat down to wait for Amity. Amity's class ended ten minutes after theirs, and so she arrived ten minutes after.

This meant she went up to order alone.

Which was when she saw the barista.

As soon as she saw the barista, Girl In Red began to play inside her head. Amity willed her brain to shut up as the girl smiled at her, a signal for her to order.

"Can I have a um... a regular mocha?," Amity stuttered, her gay little brain still singing it's gay little songs.

The barista smiled at her. Luz' cheeks were tinted red, but Amity did not notice that. Luz was having a similar experience.

Luz was bi-panicking. This girl was pretty. Pretty enough to fry her brain. But Luz was still at work, and she continued with her job as well as she could.

"Can I have a name for that please," she asked, regaining her composure.

"Uh- Amity Blight," Amity stuttered in response. As the barista smiled warmly at her- which did not make her heart flutter, thank you very much- she scurried over to the end of the counter, where people collected their drinks.

Luz wrote the name on the cup, hesitating slightly as she did so, before handing it to Willow, who, on this occasion, was making the drinks while Luz took orders.

When Willow was finished making the drink, she put it on the counter. Luz called out Amity's name, and Amity collected her drink. Her cheeks were still tinged red.

Amity headed to where Skara and Boscha were sitting to find them smirking at her. "What?" she asked self-consciously.

Skara snorted as Boscha replied with a single word "The barista."

"What about her.." Amity asked defensively, sinking into the spare chair at the table. The other two looked at her sceptically.

Amity looked down at her cup to avoid eye contact. However, when she did so she noticed it. A little heart next to her name. She had seen the barista write on the cup. So she had drawn this...

Amity's cheeks burned. This did not go unnoticed by her friends, who quickly took the cup from her. They immediately began smirking again.

"Well," Skara began, looking at Boscha to elaborate. "She's totally into you," Boscha stated bluntly. Amity hid her face in her hands as Boscha started laughing at her, Skara obviously trying to hold back similar giggles.

"She drew a heart next to your name, who does that to someone they don't like!?" Boscha exclaimed once she was done her hysterics. Amity looked down at her feet in a huff, refusing to acknowledge this logic.

Skara pulled back her chair and stood up. "I think we should go get ice cream before Amity explodes," she announced. Boscha agreed and the three of them stood up and headed towards the door, Boscha saying a quick goodbye to Willow before she left.

Amity glanced back at the barista. Who just happened to glance at her at the same time. Both of them turned red, and Amity rushed out the door after her friends. Her friends, of course, who were once again laughing at her.

»»»

As she watched the pretty girl- Amity was her name- leave, Luz turned around to Willow wide-eyed. "Willow," she whisper-shouted, her friend smiling at her knowingly "you know her!?"

"In high school we knew each other. You already know Boscha, but Amity and Skara were friends with her then, and still are," was Willow's reply.

Luz looked back at the open door Amity had walked out of.

"I drew a heart next to her name," Luz whisper-shouted, and Willow giggled at the slight panic that was clear on the girl's face.

" Do you think she'll come back Willow?"

"I'm pretty sure she will."

»»»

Of course Amity came back. It was almost as if the universe was pushing her- she just had to come back.

And that cute, grinning barista was once again at the counter, her grin once again aimed at Amity.

Her smile was so warm it nearly made Amity's knees melt as she walked up to the counter.

"It's you again!" the barista announced cheerfully. Amity couldn't help the shy smile that crept across her face.

"So what would you like to order this time Amity?"

Amity was shocked she had remembered her name. She glanced up at the menu before settling her gaze back onto the eyes of the barista. Eyes that she could gaze at for- nope nope time to order.

"Um," Amity began " what would you recommend."

"Hmmmm, I'd probably recommend the...." Luz looked at the menu, her finger tapping against her chin. " Oh, the chocolate chip frappuccino! It's really good you have to try it!"

"Okay," was all Amity said in response, and Luz took out a cup. The two smiled warmly at each other before Luz began writing on the cup. Once Luz was done writing she handed it to Willow and began leaning on the counter, chin on her palm.

"So," she began, looking Amity in the eye as Amity gazed back shyly "you're Boscha's friend."

"Wait- you know Boscha?"

"She's my friend's girlfriend,"

"Oh yeah, you and Willow are friends."

"Yep! Best friends! Anyway, I see you're back again! Would you be interested in becoming a regular with a- drumroll please- loyalty card!" Luz brandished the card, wiggling her eyebrows. Amity giggled at her antics, nodding.

Luz grinned at her again and handed her the card, which was covered in an excessive amount of glitter. Amity pocketed the card and brought out her wallet to pay for the drink, but Luz stopped her.

"It's on me," Luz said, still making Amity's knees weak with her smile.

Amity just smiled back as Willow put her drink on the counter. Willow cleared her throat to get the attention of the two girls.

"Willow- hi! Long time no see," Amity exclaimed.

Willow waved. "Hey Amity."

She pushed Amity's drink towards her and Amity took it gratefully.

"Oh wait, what's your name," Amity asked, turning back to Luz.

"Luz Noceda at your service," Luz replied. She bowed dramatically and Amity giggled. She looked at her watch and began making her way towards the door.

"I have to go now, but I'm sure I'll see you again soon Luz! Nice seeing you again Willow!"

As she left Luz let out a sigh.

"Espero volver a verla pronto," she sighed dreamily. Willow watched her knowingly.

»»»

When Amity arrived back at her shared apartment, coffee in hand, she ran straight into two guests at her door. Unfortunately, they were not the type of guests she wanted to see. No, it wasn't rats.

It was her siblings.

"Mittens!" Emira and Edric yelled in unison, almost as if they had practiced. Amity winced as they both enveloped her in a rib-crushing hug.

"Hello Ed, Em," she wheezed. They let her go at that, and she took the first sip of her coffee.

Heavens, Luz was right- it was really good.

Emira was about to say something when she happened to glance down at the cup. Her eyes widened. She elbowed Eric in the ribs.

"So Mittens..." Emira began, smirking mischievously at her younger sister, who was quite confused. Edric had not caught on to what Emira was insinuating either, and so was only enlightened when Emira pointed at the cup.

"Why is there a heart on your cup?"

Amity went bright red and turned the writing around so it was only facing her- oh Titan her name was written in a huge heart, impossible to miss.

Edric and Emira started a chorus of "oooooh"s and Amity groaned.

"The barista put it there," Amity said, which caused the twins to look at her skeptically.

"And why would a barista put a heart around your name mittens?" Edric enquired, in a false innocent voice.

"I don't know," Amity muttered and pushed past them to unlock her front door.

The twins followed her, still pestering her.

"Mittens- you have to give us more than that to go on!"

"Come on, we have to know who you date, we're your siblings!"

Amity groaned again, sitting down at her kitchen table and taking another sip from her coffee. The twins sank down on chairs opposite her expectantly.

"We aren't dating yet, she's just... cute I guess," Amity muttered, cheeks turning redder.

"Yet," Emira said as smugly as possible.

Amity crossed her arms and glared at her siblings. They smirked back.

"Where did you meet her?" Edric asked excitedly.

"Coffee shop," Amity replied reluctantly.

"When did you meet her?"

"Yesterday."

"How did you meet her.?"

"She took my order... Okay enough questions, leave me in peace please."

Amity stood up to shoo her siblings out the door, but the refused to budge.

"We wanna meet her," Emira exclaimed, but Amity immediately shook her head.

"No- I barely know her and you two are just gonna scare her off," Amity cried, as her siblings attempted to sway her with puppy-dog eyes.

It wasn't the eyes that convinced her in the end. It was the fact that they still would not leave her kitchen two and a half hours later, and Amity still had not had her lunch.

"Fine!" she eventually cried, throwing her hands up in defeat. The twins cheered, and finally made their way out of her apartment.

"So it's settled then. You're gonna call us when you go back there tomorrow, and we're coming with you," Emira stated, not consulting Amity on that matter. Amity began protesting, but her siblings were already running down the stairs to the exit, shouting a loud goodbye, and disturbing all of her neighbours.

Amity closed her front door, leaned against it, and breathed a relieved sigh. Her relief disappeared as soon as she realised Luz was going to meet Ed and Em tomorrow.

»»»

Amity trudged to Owl House Coffee, her siblings behind her, giggling at her bad mood.

Her mood lifted slightly when she was the greeted by the sight of Luz's smile. She must have visibly lightened up, as Emira kicked her in the ankle as a form of encouragement. Well, Amity presumed it was encouragement. It could've just been for the sake of it, as they were siblings after all.

Amity walked over to Luz, who glanced at Ed and Em in slight confusion.

"Hey Luz,' Amity greeted and Luz waved enthusiastically.

"Hey Amity! What did you think of the chocolate chip frappuccino?"

"It was actually really good, I think I'll have it again! Um... These are my siblings, Em and Ed. They're here because..." Amity trailed off, unsure of how to explain the presence of her brother and sister.

Em of course had a plan. "We heard the coffee here was to die for! Amity here told us about it and we just had to try it!"

Luz was unfazed by Em's dramatic excuse, and beamed her usual smile.

"So what would the three of you like?" Luz asked cheerfully.

"I think me and Ed will have what Amity had yesterday- right Ed?" Em looked at her twin expectantly. Of course he did not agree.

"Speak for yourself Emira, I'm having whatever has the most sugar in it," announced Ed. Amity and Emira groaned.

"So the Ultimate Sweet? It has more sugar in it than should be consumed by one human in one sitting. It's actually really nice, but most people think it's way too sweet," Luz suggested.

"Amity, I approve," Ed announce, patting his younger sister on the back. He fished out his wallet and put enough money on the counter for the three drinks.

Amity face-palmed, her face burning. "Can I just have the chocolate chip frappuccino again, I liked it a lot," Amity requested.

"Of course," Luz said, aiming a soft smile at Amity, which, as usual, made her knees weak.

Once again, she spent time writing on Amity's cup.

Today Gus was the one making the drinks, and he waved at the twins. He had been in some club with her siblings in highschool, and now they went to the same college, so Amity knew they were acquainted. When the drinks were ready, the trio collected them and began to head out.

Luz waved enthusiastically until the three siblings were out of sight, then slumped down and hid her face in her hands. She mumbled something unintelligible. "What?" Gus enquired.

"I gave her my number," Luz mumbled again. Gus burst into laughter and Luz glared at him until he stopped.

"Sorry," Gus apologised "but it's hilarious to see your face right now."

Luz continued glaring at him.

»»»

It wasn't Amity who noticed the number. She hadn't yet glanced at her cup when she heard Ed's incoherent squeaking noises. Then Emira joined him, leaving Amity thoroughly confused. At least until she glanced down at her cup, the object of their interest and nearly had a heart attack. She turned bright red as she read the black sharpie; Call me- XXXXXXX!

Her siblings wouldn't stop nudging and chanting rhymes about kissing all the way back to her apartment. Of course the universe hated her, and Boscha and Skara were both home on their arrival . Them being the good friends they were, joined her siblings' teasing. Amity slammed the door of her room and locked it behind her, her roommates and siblings slinking away after a couple of minutes.

As she sat with her back to the door of her room, Amity stared at the number written in curly handwriting on her coffee cup. She input the number into her contacts, naming the contact "Luz <3".

She typed a short message to see if this was really Luz' number, not just the number to some sort of rejection hotline or the coffee shop's number. A concise message, conveying indifference rather than Amity's growing attraction to the girl.

Luz <3

Hey this is Amity
:D Amity you texted! Now that
means we are officially friends
and you can't deny ;)

Why would I deny it
Idk you just seem so cool :P

You're probably cooler
Awwww
Have this otter pic
[image_png]

...
Adorable
So are you lol

Really.?
Thank you
I'm not as adorable as you though
Thank you so mucchhh
😽😽😽

-

Amity smiled to herself. This girl made her feel so good. They barely knew each other but Amity knew she wanted, more than anything, to talk to her more.

Of course, they did talk more. Over the next two weeks the two were constantly in contact. So much so that Skara and Boscha almost had to physically drag her away from both the coffee shop and her phone whenever they wanted to spend any time with her.

They weren't angry. They could see how enamoured Amity was, and it was someone they wholeheartedly approved of.

Willow and Gus were having a similar experience with Luz. Willow had actually gone as far as betting on them getting together by the end of October. Gus and Boscha had both betted on them being together by the end of November, on account of both of them being walking disasters, and Skara had claimed it would happen before Christmas for the same reason.

»»»

Two weeks after Luz had given Amity her number, Boscha informed Amity that one of their friends was hosting a party. A college party, no less.

Amity was not the type to indulge in copious amounts of alcohol, and these types of parties usually had a lot of drunk people present. Amity was about to turn down the invitation, when Boscha informed her of a key piece of information: Luz was going.

Apparently Boscha and Willow were going together, and both thought it would be a good opportunity for Luz and Amity to "bond".

Amity wanted to refuse. She wanted to stay at home and watch a movie.

But a day later she found herself putting on a nice outfit and grabbing her keys, on her way out the door with her roommates.

When they arrived at the party's location Boscha immediately spotted Willow in the doorway. She linked arms with her girlfriend and they headed inside to God knows where, as Amity realised her mistake.

She had no idea what she was doing here. Yes, to spend time with Luz, but how? This was a huge party, there were so many people. How was she going to spend time alone with the girl she liked in such a crowded place.

While she had been dwelling on that, Skara had disappeared as well. Great, now she was heading in alone.

Amity reluctantly made her way towards the door. She tried not to make eye contact with any of the drunk young-adults around her.

Once inside, she immediately started scanning the room for a familiar face. Who was she kidding, she only wanted to see Luz. Hopefully Luz wasn't drunk out of her mind.

Luckily she spotted the girl across the room... Play some video game on the owner of the house's TV?

Amity smiled to herself and headed straight towards where her crush sat, cross-legged on the floor.

When Luz spotted her, she waved enthusiastically.

"Hey Amity!" greeted Luz, pausing the game she was playing. "Hey," Amity responded as the two girls smiled softly at each other.

A scream rang through the house. Amity glanced warily behind her, knowing that these parties had a tendency to get much too raucous. There was a reason she avoided them. She could see the scream unsettled Luz too.

In the quiet that surfaced after the scream Amity reached out and clasped Luz's hand with her own. Their eyes met once again.

"Hey," Luz whispered "Do you wanna go somewhere else?"

Amity glanced around the room before nodding. "I don't really go to these things."

"Me neither."

The stood up from their places on the floor, still clinging to each other's hand.

Luz gently pulled Amity by the arm out the door. "I actually drove here myself, but I parked down the road a bit. I didn't want anyone vomiting on my car or anything," explained Luz. She pulled Amity down the street to where her car was parked.

Opening the passenger dramatically, she invited Amity to sit. Amity giggled, settling in her seat as Luz went around to hers.

"Alright!" cheered Luz, turning the key and starting her car. Amity gazed around the interior of the vehicle. There was a rubber duck on the dashboard (of course there was) but the rest of the car was remarkably normal.

Luz noticed her wonder, and answered her question.

"I only got this car a few weeks ago, haven't had time to really make it mine yet. I do have my driving buddy here-" she tapped the rubber duck "-Justin! Eda gave him to me when I started working at The Owl House. Of course noowww I have a new driving buddy!"

Luz grinned at her, and Amity couldn't help but beam back. They drove to the house Luz shared with Gus and Willow. It was a few blocks away from Amity's.

Luz stopped the car in her driveway, but held Amity's shoulder as she was about to leave.

"Before we go watch a movie or something, do you wanna play 20 questions?" asked Luz enthusiastically "I wanna know more about you!"

Amity wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Isn't that where you think of an object and the other person asks questions to help them guess what it was?"

Luz giggled, shaking her head. "That's one version. But I mean the one where you just ask each other questions!" Amity smiled and nodded. "But do we have to do twenty? That's a lot. What about just four each, because I really wanna watch a movie," she asked, the soft smile that was always present around Luz on her lips.

"Okay! I'll start... What your favourite colour?"

Amity thought for a second before replying, "Probably either black or pink. Hmm, What's your favourite animal?"

"Okay before I answer- I love cats! But I'm afraid otters are my favourite. They're just so cute! My turn again... Favourite TV show?"

"I think... Glee. I dunno, I liked their performances that they worked into the story. Also... It was one of the few shows with openly and accepted gay characters when it first came out and that was... refreshing. Next question... favourite song?"

"Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood," Amity blinked at that statement. Could that mean-"Next question! Do you have any nicknames?"

"My siblings call me "mittens" but when I asked them why, they just told me I act like a cat.? It's an annoying nickname and it's stuck around with me since I was really young."

"Aw! You'd be an adorable cat. Anyway, your turn next!"

"Favourite type of movie?"

"Okay don't get me wrong, I love fantasy, but romance is my favourite. I love when two people just look at each other and instantly know they're gonna be soul mates! I... I really want that with someone..."

As Luz said that, she turned and met eyes with Amity. They both turned red, but kept their gaze on one another. Amity knew what her next question should be. She nervously reached over and laced her fingers with Luz's.

"Okay last question," she began, eyes still locked on Luz's.
"Can... Can I kiss you?"

Luz nodded. The two stared at each other a second more, leaning in closer.

As soon as their lips met, Amity knew that had been the right question to ask. It was as if fireworks had gone off inside her brain, and neither of the two had any intention of parting anytime soon. Luz tilted her head to deepen the kiss and ran her fingers through Amity's two-toned hair.

The two parted for air, before their lips crashed together once more. They stayed that way until, once again, they needed air,

This time they just stared at each other, dumbfounded.

Luz was the first to break the silence. "You're... A really good kisser."

Amity squeaked, red faced. "So are you," was the only thing she was able to say in response. The two were silent once more until Luz announced "So let's go watch that movie then!"

The two exited Luz's car, and entered her house. It was nice; there were various photos hung up on the walls, and various potted plants around. The plants were obviously thanks to Willow, as she was very fond of gardening. The photos were haphazard snapshots of various people and objects. The creative angles and chaotic shots made Amity instantly recognise that they had been taken by Luz.

They both made their way through to the sitting room, which had a comfy looking couch stationed in front of a TV, surrounded on both sides by matching armchairs.

Amity sat down on the couch, as Luz rooted around on a shelf full of DVDs. She pulled one out and showed it to Amity. "How about The Lion King," Luz asked enthusiastically.

She seemed to have recovered completely from what had happened in her car, and Amity tried to match her composure. "Sure," was her shy response.

Luz put the DVD in and bounced back over to where Amity sat on the couch. The movie started.

Of course, not even before the end of the iconic opening song, Luz fell asleep. Amity probably would have found this adorable, if it weren't for the fact that Luz had fallen asleep, and immediately clung to her. Somehow she had wrapped her arms around Amity and was now nuzzling into her side.

Amity didn't know how to respond to this. On one hand, this was very enjoyable and she would like to stay like this forever. On the other hand what would happen when Luz woke up.

She was still considering her options as she fell asleep.

»»»

When Amity first woke up, Luz was still asleep. This meant she was trapped.

The two had completely intertwined their limbs and Luz had somehow moved her forehead to the crook of Amity's neck during the night. This meant Amity couldn't move from the couch unless Luz moved first.

The sun was only just starting to stream in the windows, so it was probably still quite early.

Amity lay there, still blushing, until she drifted back to sleep.

When she woke up again Luz was nowhere to be seen. However, Amity could hear her in the kitchen.

When she padded down the hallway, she realised Luz was speaking Spanish. Amity entered the kitchen to find Luz on the phone with her mother.

Luz smiled at her before continuing her conversation.

"Si mamá, adiós," she finished, ending the call. She gestured to two cups of coffee on the counter.

"This is kinda my thing, so I made you coffee?" she smiled shyly as Amity took a sip. Amity grinned back and sat down at the kitchen table.

They both sipped their coffee and stared at each other.

Luz was the one to break the silence. "Amity..." she asked nervously.

"Yeah.."

"Would you... wanna go out sometime? Like on a date? And uh... Basically will you be my girlfriend," she asked, squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation of rejection.

Luz felt Amity lace her fingers through her own.

"Of course," Amity responded. Their faces were now quite close together. Amity went red again.

"Um.." Amity began "Can we kiss again?"

All Luz did in response was pull Amity closer and crash their lips together again.

She felt Amity running her fingers through her hair, and wrapped her arms tightly around the girl's waist. Amity hummed delightedly in response and they parted for air, only for their lips to pull back together once again.

Suddenly they both heard something in the kitchen door. They pulled apart quickly, spotting Gus and Willow in the kitchen doorway.

Willow was smirking, but Gus looked scandalised. "I think I'm just gonna go to my room," he blurted, and ran back up the stairs, still in pyjamas.

Willow, who had only returned home about a minute prior, placed her keys on the kitchen table and stood, smirking at the two with her arms crossed.

"I'm about to be very rich," she announced smiling. She blinded up the stairs after Gus, demanding money from her bet.

Luz and Amity gazed at each other. The could worry about their friends' potential debt later, it was time for the two of them now.

Their lips crashed together once again.